All the food and beverages served at Super Bowl parties can make it a challenging day for people who made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight.

“We know January is the start of lots of new diets. But, then February starts and the first weekend is Super Bowl Sunday, one of the biggest eating days all year,” Alenka Ravnik-List, a registered dietitian and diabetes program coordinator at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, said in a center news release.

“Hours in front of the television can test our willpower. Too often people with good intentions will fail,” she added.

However, by following a few rules you’ll be able to limit the impact Super Bowl Sunday has on your diet plans, Ravnik-List said.

Start by making sure you eat breakfast on game day. Research has shown that people who skip breakfast tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal and munch on high-calorie snacks to ward off hunger. It’s also a good idea to have a light lunch so you won’t be famished by the time the game starts.

The game doesn’t begin until after 6 p.m., so that gives you plenty of time to get out for some exercise that day. During half time, take a walk around the block or toss a football around in the yard.

Use a medium-sized plate, about eight to nine inches wide, in order to limit the amount of food you eat. Half the plate should be loaded with colorful vegetables and the other half with lean protein and whole grain starches. If you suspect your Super Bowl party hosts won’t offer vegetables or other healthy snacks such as popcorn, bring your own, Ravnik-List suggested.

If you drink alcoholic beverages, choose those with fewer calories and carbohydrates, such as light beer, champagne or dry wine. For mixed drinks, use sugar-free mixes such as diet soda, diet tonic, club soda or seltzer.

Instead of chips, use nutritious choices such as broccoli, carrots, celery and tomato grapes for dips. Try lighter versions of your favorite dips. Don’t sit within an arm’s length of the chip and dip bowls or other snacks that you can’t resist.

When schedules get packed with holiday obligations, running frequently gets pushed off your to-do list. That’s a shame because investing just a little time in exercise can reap big rewards. In fact, even if you have just 10 minutes a day, three days a week, you can maintain some running fitness. Plus, these sessions will help offset stress and provide the consistency that makes it easier to resume your regular training when the craziness abates.

You have 10 minutes

Warm up with one to two minutes of brisk walking, then alternate two minutes running with 30 seconds walking. If you feel good, gradually increase the speed of your run segments. Repeat three times. Jog easy for one minute to cool down. If you’re stuck in the house, walk briskly from room to room and up and down stairs. Every minute, jog in place for 20 steps.

You have 15 minutes

Walk gently up and down a flight of stairs two or three times to warm up. Then run up one flight and walk back down. Repeat four times, take a one-minute walk break on a flat surface, then continue the sequence as time allows. If you’re in a stairwell, run up two flights of stairs, walk down, repeat, then take a walk break.

You have 20 minutes

On an out-and-back route, walk for one minute, then alternate 30 seconds walking with 30 seconds running for three minutes. For the next six minutes, run/walk using any ratio you wish. At the 10-minute mark, turn around. For the next nine minutes, run/walk whatever ratio you’d like, but pick up the pace during the run portion. Cool down for one minute.

You have 30 minutes

Walk for two minutes, then alternate 30 seconds walking with 30 seconds running for six minutes. For the next 20 minutes, alternate jogging for one minute, running a faster pace for one minute, jogging one minute, walking one minute. Repeat the sequence five times. Walk or jog two minutes to cool down.

If you are looking for an easy and effective way to do something good for you body, consider the health benefits of juicing. Juicing is preparing and drinking fruit and vegetable juices. The many health benefits of juicing far exceed those of eating solid fruits and vegetables. Modern production, processing, storing and cooking practices reduce nutrients to less than 50 percent of those required to maintain a healthy body. This combined with the fact that eating non organic food, that has the nutritional value greatly reduced, could also leave many of us malnourished in important vitamins, enzymes and minerals.

Juicing is beneficial because the body can quickly absorb larger amounts of nutrients and enzymes from juices than from solid foods since the veggies or fruits are stripped of fiber allowing easy absorption of nutrients.

Drinking just 1 ounce of wheatgrass has the same nutritional value of chlorophyll as eating 2 pounds of greens, and 16 ounces of vegetable juice has the vitamins and enzymes equivalent of eating 6 to 7 pounds of vegetables.

Enzymes are also involved in metabolism, so another health benefit of juicing is that it can increase metabolic rate. Juicing also ensures that the body is getting sufficient amounts of phytochemicals which are substances in plants that are considered among the most powerful ways to fight disease.

Most people do not eat enough raw fruits and vegetables to obtain the amount of phytochemicals that would make a difference. It is relatively easy to drink enough juice to obtain sufficient amounts of these powerful nutrients. In addition, antioxidants and other immune enhancing properties are concentrated in juices.

Tips for Juicing:

 Use organic foods. Since you are ingesting only juices, make sure that what you use is of the highest quality without any type of toxic chemicals sprayed on them. Also eating or juicing with organic foods will increase the nutrients. Organic foods can have up to fifty percent more nutrients then their non-organic counterparts. An interesting fact to note – spinach in the 1950′s had 65 percent more iron then the non-organic spinach grown today. This problem is a byproduct of mass farming practices used today.

Drink between 8 ounces and 16 ounces of juice at least 2 times per week. You can get great benefits from juicing fruits and vegetables of all types, but some to consider are carrots, celery, ginger, beets, spinach, greens, apple and cucumbers.

Echinacea

Herbalists consider Echinacea to be one of the best blood purifiers and effective antibiotics. It activates the body’s immune system, increasing the chances of fighting off any disease. This popular herb has been used to help ward off the common cold as well as to relieve the symptoms of hay fever and urinary tract infections.

Echinacea aids in the production of interferon and increases antiviral activity against influenza (flu), and herpes which is an inflammation of the skin and mouth. It may reduce the severity of symptoms such as runny nose and sore throat and reduce the duration of illness in general.

Echinacea’s antibacterial properties can stimulate wound healing and are of benefit to skin conditions such as burns, insect bites, ulcers, psoriasis, acne and eczema. Its anti-inflammatory properties may relieve arthritis and lymphatic swelling.

Note: Echinacea will work the best when taken when symptoms first appear, or using as a preventive when around others who are infected.

Echinacea Premium combines the roots of the Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea to enlist properties unique to each. The blending of these two plant species ensures that the specific caffeic acid derivatives (cichoric acid, echinacoside, cynarin) and the lipophilic components (especially alkylamides) are present in appropriate quantities. This product is standardized to contain a total of 4.1 mg per tablet of alkylamides to ensure optimal strength and quality.

These substances and other unnamed phytochemicals work together to: 

• Enhance immune system function (particularly non-specific immune function) 

• Support and promote normal interferon production 

• Support and promote healthy white blood cells 

• Support healthy immune response following stress, sudden changes in weather or temperature  

• These statements have not been approved or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  

• These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 

Monday January 23, 2012
6:30 – 8:30

Almost Time to Start Your New Years Resolution
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